Underneath the Stars
by Curt Kenobi
Summary: A little moment, underneath the stars, atop the Impala in the middle of nowhere, Heartland, USA. Utter schmoop. *Dean/Cas friendship or preslash*


**Title: **Underneath the Stars**  
Author: **Curt Kenobi**  
Rating: **PG/K+**  
Word Count: **645

**Summary: **"That what Heaven's like, Cas – for you? All endless and twinkly." _"No. …We don't have stars." _"Well, that's a loss." _"…I think I prefer this."_

**Genre/Warnings:** Schmoop. Ohmigod, schmoop. Songfic, of a sort? *hangs head***  
Pairing(s): **Dean/Cas (probably can be read as friendship or preslash, but either way, it all boils down to them.)**  
Timeline/Spoilers: **None, really. Just place it somewhere late-s4 up through now or in AU-land. It's flexible like that.

**Disclaimer: **Supernatural's all Kripke's fanboy dream…I'm just a fanboi of his. I make no money, don't sue – I'm beyond poor.

**A/N: **I think this is only the second schmoopy thing I've ever written, and the first was comfort pr0n. But yeah, it's karking schmoop. And, just putting it out there...there probably will be a companion/continuation to this, even more songficcy, and probably still fluffy.

Also: Title shamelessly – and unoriginally – taken from the song that inspired this thing, "Underneath the Stars [Renholdër Remix]" by the Cure f/ Maynard James Keenan and Milla (I like it over the original, but either does it; same lyrics). Lyrically it's all Robert Smith's; I'm just inspired by it.

* * *

—_underneath the stars – alight for 13 billion years – __/_

—_the view is beautiful, and ours alone tonight_—

* * *

The sky was clear, dark and expansive above them, pinpricked with lights of distant stars and blinking satellites, like salt or diamonds knocked across a blue-black velvet tablecloth. Something to be said for the plains of the Heartland. Dean and an initially reluctant Cas were sitting on the hood of the Impala, shoulder to shoulder, reclined against the windshield.

"That what Heaven's like, Cas – for you?" Dean asked, tipping his beer bottle to indicate the field above them. "All endless and twinkly?"

Cas' forehead creased with a frown. "No," he said slowly, his head tilting to the side. "Heaven to angels can't really be encapsulated with human concepts." His mouth twisted, thoughtful – almost rueful – as he sat back straight. He looked up and across the sky. "We have no stars."

Dean _hmph_ed meditatively. "Well, that's a loss." He took a swig of beer.

The subsequent moment stretched, still and contemplative – comfortable, even. Like they just happened to happen across the eye within the shitstorm they existed here in this moment. Their hands had drifted close and somehow their fingers had become loosely interlaced. Not chick-flick handholding or a declaration of soppy affection, just…a closeness. Like their tenuous friendship, it didn't mean much more – it just was. It was trust and companionship, though not defined implicitly with those terms.

"...I think I prefer this." Castiel's soft declaration was sudden; it took a minute for the words to even register with Dean.

"What?" he asked on a huff of incredulity, putting his beer down on the hood. "A starry night on this fucked-up earth over your beyond-my-human-comprehension storied halls of Heaven?" He looked back to the stars himself, as if the answer was there. It seemed to be what Cas was doing.

"No," Cas murmured, eyes tracking across the starry sky.

"Then what?" prodded Dean, because he never had exactly possessed the grace to wait through a dramatic pause, especially if he was either irritated or genuinely interested. (Or a mix of both.)

Blue eyes finally tore themselves from soaking up the ambiance of the night and turned their bottomless depths upon Dean. It was almost easy to forget _who _Castiel was sometimes, cloaked in his unassuming slight, nerdy human form. It was, that is, until his eyes hit you straight on, and besides the eons of wisdom you could see and feel within them, there was the fact you could probably safely assume that that intense gaze truly could and was seeing your very core. Every damned time; Dean still hadn't gotten used to it yet.

Cas' gaze unpinned him for a moment to flick down, and before Dean relented to his automatic reaction of following the action, he caught a split-second unguarded expression on the rogue angel's face – a soft smile curved Castiel's mouth; another little sign of what Cas had gained from humanity – and then he realised that Cas was looking to their interlocked hands. _When the fuck did that happen?_

Dean's eyes shot back up, his hand twitching involuntarily between the fact of being caught and The Cas Stare (TM). To his surprise, Cas' hand curled more firmly about his for a brief moment, before falling back to their companionable closeness.

"I would prefer – over the vast, great and storied halls of Heaven in all their splendour and familiarity – this equally endless sky, atop an unwieldy automobile, with you, Dean Winchester." And, so like Cas, he ended that heavy statement by nonchalantly going back to his stargazing.

"Oh," was all Dean had to offer to that. There was a funny twist to his stomach, and he swallowed. "Okay, then." He settled back down against the windshield, picking up his beer again. …And he kept his hand about Castiel's, a smile curving against the lip of his beer bottle at the fact as he took another swig. This night really was something, he decided.

* * *

_(The lyrics in the break are from "Underneath the Stars" by The Cure.)_


End file.
